3 areas where Arsenal’s team mentality is worryingly weak

2. Poor Technical Quality in a Team of Technical Players

The sloppiness that keeps seeping into performances is in contrast to the profile of players on show.

Spells of wastefulness in possession can only be linked to a set of players utterly bereft of confidence, none of which explains why it even happens in matches Arsenal are either leading in, comfortable in, or both.

Are the demands placed upon them too high? Whatever the manager is saying to them on the training pitch or in the team meetings has to be affecting them on matchdays.

What other explanation is there for Thomas Partey being unable to control a moderately fizzed path into his feet? Loose passes in simple situations result in inviting transitions for the opposition to pounce upon, all coming from players who’ve rarely exhibited such a low standard of technical quality over their careers.

Young players will make these errors, albeit not at this frequency. Senior players shouldn’t be. In defence, why is Benjamin White stepping off attackers instead? These are uncharacteristic errors.

With Arsenal releasing their weekly training videos of everyone smiling and laughing while they perform rondo sessions at London Colney, what plays out on the weekend is something entirely different. Yes, it’s just training and nowhere near the level of a competitive Premier League fixture, but something happens between the team getting on that bus and crossing the white line that is holding them back mentally.

Professional footballers make mistakes, just not this often for large spells of matches. The players have to look at themselves. Equally, it’s also hard to imagine they’re not on that pitch with a voice echoing through their heads listing off meticulous instructions.

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